I'm in jail. Your dad is in jail. The police think we're covering up for you, and the state has taken your younger siblings into temporary foster care.

Son, it's time to turn yourself in.

With those words, recounted by investigators, Raymundo Marquez-Vela agreed to return to the U.S. from Mexico where police say he had fled three years ago to escape prosecution for murder.

Last week, the 23-year-old Portland man appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court to hear accusations that he used a barbecue carving fork to stab to death a good Samaritan who'd tried to stop him from beating his girlfriend in August 2007. Police credit prosecutors with leveraging Marquez-Vela's parents into getting the 23-year-old to give up life on the run.

Detectives continued to work the case, frustrated at not knowing where the suspect was living in Mexico. Every six months or so, someone would call or sit down with the dead man's family, and give his loved ones an update.

"We'd say 'We don't know anything, but we're trying,'" said Traci Anderson, who is prosecuting the case with deputy district attorney David Hannon. "...The file just sits here, and it eats at you. You know who did this one. You know he's in Mexico. You just don't know where. It's very frustrating."

Authorities say 47-year-old Merle Graham heard Marquez-Vela beating his girlfriend through an open window of her apartment in the 5300 block of Southeast Rhone Street. Graham yelled at him to him to stop, infuriating Marquez-Vela who police say killed him. Marquez-Vela then fled to his parents' home nearby, authorities say.

MCSOAusencia Marquez-Vela.

Authorities believe Marquez-Vela's father, Raymond Valenzuelo Marquez, drove his son across the border and stayed in Mexico. Marquez-Vela's mother told detectives she knew nothing, but investigators noted she was traveling to Mexico for holidays.

Recently, U.S. border agents notified local investigators that Marquez-Vela's 44-year-old father had re-entered the United States. Investigators figured he had returned to be with his wife in Portland, and that's where they found him. They arrested him on accusations of hindering prosecution and obstructing justice.

Raymond Marquez offered no clues as to where his son was.

So investigators turned to Marquez-Vela's girlfriend for help. She gave prosecutors evidence that Marquez-Vela's mom had urged her to lie before a grand jury about what she saw and heard the night of the homicide.

Police booked the mother, Ausencia Marquez-Vela, 41, into jail under accusations of tampering with a witness, obstructing justice and hindering prosecution. The Oregon Department of Human Services took her three younger children into temporary custody. And authorities say that's when she made the phone call.

Police say Marquez-Vela walked across the Mexico-United States border at San Diego-Tijuana where the two Portland police detectives were waiting.

MCSORaymond Valenzuelo Marquez

"It's been three years and his mom and dad knew where he was, and didn't help the police to bring him back -- I'm not pleased about that," said Detective Jim McCausland, who worked on the case with Detective Steve Ober. "But I'm pleased that they eventually did the right thing to bring him back."

Both parents were released from jail, pending trial. The children were then released from state custody. The parents have no criminal history. If convicted, they would likely face probation under Oregon's sentencing guidelines, but could face some jail. They are resident aliens, and it's unclear if their immigration status will be in jeopardy.

Raymundo Marquez-Vela is a U.S. citizen. If convicted of murder, he would face life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years.

McCausland, the detective, called Graham's sister the morning after Marquez-Vela crossed the border and told her the long-awaited news which she shared with her family.